ethereum foundation

Reddit Invites Developers to Submit Ethereum Scaling Proposals for its Token Project

Reddit invited developers to submit Ethereum scaling proposals that can be used to bring Community Points to the site’s mainnet. Reddit, the American social news aggregator made this announcement while confirming it has partnered with the Ethereum Foundation in a bid to create its Ethereum backed Community Points.

The company highlighted the goal of the project which is to find a solution that will support hundreds of thousands of Community Points users on mainnet today and can eventually scale to all of Reddit’s 430 million monthly users.

Key demands for the project

With a lot of hype, the company specifically laid down requirements for its preferred scaling solution. Drawing from the Reddit’s announcement, it read:

Most existing scaling solutions focus on the exchange use case, which favors optimizing for transfers, many of these designs don’t take into consideration the costs of obtaining tokens or entering the scaling system, which can be significant.

This cost minimization factor is crucial as Reddit currently depends on donations from people who believe Reddit will turn profitable in the near future. The company believes there are different solutions to creating a scalable solution and requires developers to prioritize decentralization, usability, interoperability, and open-source designs.

Finding essence in Reddit’s project

With its numerous subreddits, Reddit has been able to help people build communities for obtaining facts and getting reviews about almost any subject. The development of the Ethereum modeled Community Points will help in creating a highly functional community with its own unique structures and operations.

Reddit’s proposed application of the ethereum network negates any doubt that blockchain will find its use in every aspect of life.

Ethereum Gathers Cybersecurity Team Dedicated to ETH 2.0 Final Testnet Launch

With the launch of Ethereum 2.0 testnet set to be released on August 4 at 1 pm UTC, the Ethereum Foundation has been looking to build a security team that will be responsible for maintaining ETH 2.0.

Cybersecurity 2.0

The security team’s main point of focus would be to attend to any potential cybersecurity issues and maintain the anticipated ETH 2.0 upgrade. Ethereum 2.0 researcher Justin Drake took to his Twitter platform and announced that Ethereum was hiring for multiple tests that include fuzzing, bounty hunting, pager duty, applied cryptanalysis, formal verification, to name a few.

The security team hired by Ethereum Foundation will therefore be responsible for coding and verifying the cryptographic algorithms behind ETH 2.0. As their duties would include fuzzing, an automated testing software would have to be set up to make ETH 2.0 stronger. “Fuzzing” refers to a technique used in cybersecurity to weed out potential catastrophic bugs that may occur on the network. The technique involves inputting random, miscellaneous data into the computer program to generate undesired behavior such as crashes, leaks, and much more. The goal of the cybersecurity team is to perfect and coordinate all aspects of the network to make ETH 2.0 testnet safer, stronger and more efficient.

Ready, Set, Launch – Medalla 2.0 Testnet

The Ethereum Medalla testnet is set to launch on August 4, at 1 pm UTC. For it to launch, the multi-client testnet needs to fulfill two criteria.

The first is to achieve “minimum genesis time,” which details the parameters around the earliest the ETH 2.0 testnet can launch. The second criterion that needs to be fulfilled is that there needs to be a minimum number of validators signed up for the Medalla testnet. That number is set at 16,385 blockchain users, who all need to make a deposit of 32 Ether coins for Medalla to be launched. Also, the emphasis for Medalla is that it is a multi-client testnet, which means that the trial network is run by the community.

Ethereum coordinator Danny Ryan has announced that “the minimum validator deposits (16k+of them) required to kick off the Medalla testnet were met on Friday.” This means that the genesis of the testnet will happen on August 4 at 1 pm, as expected.

When Will ETH 2.0 Mainnet Launch?

As for the mainnet, the official launch has not yet been confirmed, as software developers need to make sure the blockchain is stable before clearing it for official release. Ethereum researcher Drake has predicted that this will only happen in 2021. However, co-founder and CEO of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, seems to be pushing for it to happen this year.

The CEO took to his social media platform earlier last week and expressed his wish to see the beginning of phase 1 sooner than later.

Ethereum Launches ETH 2.0 Multiclient Testnet – Medalla

Ethereum software developers proudly launched the Ethereum 2.0 multiclient testnet, Medalla – the next step on the road to pure Proof-of-Stake.

One Step Closer to ETH 2.0 Mainnet

As promised, Ethereum launched on August 4, at 1 pm UTC. Ethereum enthusiasts have been anticipating the official release of the testnet since Ethereum software developers have announced that Medalla was in the works and will be the last trial blockchain launched before Ethereum 2.0 mainnet comes into play.

Medalla: A Community Project

Ethereum is hoping to transition to a Proof-of-Stake rather than a Proof-of-Work format with Medalla testnet, meaning that block mining will depend on how much an individual has staked. Another key feature of Medalla that Ethereum proudly announced was that the testnet is almost entirely in the hands of the community, meaning the stability and health of the multiclient blockchain will mostly depend on Ethereum validators’ participation. Those who mine on Medalla will reap the rewards of a transaction fee.

Ethereum’s Bull Run

It has been a rewarding year for Ethereum, to say the least. The blockchain ecosystem recently celebrated its 5-year anniversary last week, and they have come a long way since. Five years ago, when the genesis block was first mined into existence on the network, few people outside of the industry had ever heard of Ethereum blockchain.

Now, fast forward to five years later, Ethereum has been making headlines for quite awhile, recently undergoing a flash crash on the crypto market, before steadying back at around $385. Ethereum’s cryptocurrency Ether is the second-largest crypto by market capitalization, trading around $385 at the time of writing. The blockchain ecosystem has also been dominant in the decentralized finance (DeFi) scene, as it is reputed to have the most DeFi applications run on a blockchain, leveraging smart contracts rather than an intermediary.

Ethereum 2.0 Finally Launched

Ethereum programmer Hudson Jameson announced that “Eth 2.0 is a success, it is going really well right now” and hopes that the transition from Ethereum 1.0 to Ethereum 2.0 mainnet will be smooth.

As developers went live on Ethereum Foundation’s YouTube stream to discuss the launch, it seemed that the only cause for concern were that they were seeing lower participation levels from the validators than expected. However, Ethereum software developers stood by the fact that it was just temporary, and that crypto enthusiasts should not jump to conclusions on that aspect. One Ethereum executive said:

“Low participation is just temporary; we will get through this. We have genesis, we have a chain running and resilience built into the protocol. We have an opportunity for the protocol to demonstrate what it can do, which is to recover from low participation from validators.”

Ethereum CEO Vitalik Buterin Pushes for Phase 1

Co-founder and CEO of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, had previously commented on his blockchain project, and expressed his wishes to see phase 1 of Medalla testnet initiated as soon as possible. Though phase 0 is still mature and being perfected at the time of writing, Buterin said that phase 1 was all about “spec optimization and development, and that there was no unfinished research required for it.”

Medalla Team Hunts for Cybersecurity Talent

To finish off the live launch, Ethereum developers said that that updates on the progress of Medalla blockchain will be provided on Ethereum’s Reddit account. With Ethereum Foundation doing everything they can to perfect ETH 2.0, Ethereum has also recently announced that it was looking to build a cybersecurity team dedicated to maintaining the ETH 2.0.

Ethereum Revamps Website And Transitions to Staking with Latest Testnet Release

Ethereum Foundation is transforming their website and adding new designs to deliver a more user-friendly and educational experience to the Ethereum community.

Ethereum.org’s Newest Web Features

On the official website, ethereum.org, the Foundation has announced that it will now be running on Gatsby instead of Vuepress in order to facilitate higher traffic, better content and faster transaction speed. Gatsby is to be initiated as part of Phase 0 of the revamping of ethereum.org. The Ethereum team has also been working on creating educational content for their crypto community, and it is now available on the official website. To brighten up their website, Ethereum also integrated Doge illustrations and the money-legos meme.

The tutorials are created to help users locate wallets and exchanges that accept ETH around the world, and there are currently three sections dedicated to this that explains what Ethereum is, what Ether (ETH) is, and how to get ETH. To accommodate their growing Ethereum community, ETH developers have also provided content in 30 different languages. They emphasized that it was a community effort and that without their user base, the translation program would not have been updated.

Ethereum Launches Medalla Final 2.0 Testnet

This is exciting news for Ethereum, as they are working on Medalla testnet, which was launched earlier this week, on August 4 at 1 pm UTC. This is to be the last testnet put forth by the blockchain ecosystem before the launch of Ethereum 2.0 mainnet, and it operates based on the participation of the Ethereum community. ETH 2.0 is expected to make the blockchain network faster and more efficient.

Though Ethereum executives labeled the ETH 2.0 testnet launch as successful, the issue of low validator participation was brought up during the official release. Though the number of validators required to initiate genesis time was met, the participation rate during the release was lower than expected. It was seen to be a 57% participation rate, when 80% was expected.

What’s at Stake?

Ethereum developers attributed this case scenario to the fact that initial validators that signed up prior to the release by depositing 32 ETH each were not active during Medalla testnet’s launch.

Ethereum coordinator Danny Ryan also said that 10% of that participation gap might be due to issues with Nimbus and Lodestar clients. Despite low validator participation rate, the Ethereum team remains confident about their launch, stating that low participation rate is just temporary. One Ethereum executive also pointed to the fact that this was something that the network was programmed to solve on its own. He said, “We have an opportunity for the protocol to demonstrate what it can do, which is to recover from low participation from validators.”

As Medalla testnet progresses in its upgrades, the issue of block finality should therefore be resolved.

Ethereum to Implement New "Devcon Improvement Proposals" for Devcon Colombia 2021

Ethereum gathering has announced a new way for its crypto community to get more involved for next year’s Devcon event.

What is Devcon?

Each year, Ethereum Foundation hosts a public gathering, dubbed “Devcon” for developers and members of their community. The goal of the event is to unite blockchain enthusiasts and coders under one roof to discuss how to build collectively, generate more ideas to further blockchain growth, and bounce innovative technological proposals off each other.

This year, Ethereum announced through their blog that they will be integrating a new aspect to Devcon, a concept they dub “Devcon Improvement Proposals” (DIP). Devcon Improvement Proposals are new tools set in place by the Devcon organizing team of Ethereum that aims to involve the community and integrate their input to improve the ETH ecosystem. Ethereum Foundation thinks that the inputs provided for DIP purposes will paint a better depiction of the Ethereum ecosystem in its entirety for Devcon attendees.

Devcon Improvement Proposal Categories

For each Devcon Improvement Proposal, there is a category to file and process the different ideas put forward by the community. There are four procedures – draft, accepted, postponed, and rejected. The categories are straightforward. Draft entails that the proposal will be tweaked and transformed into a better final version; accepted means that the Ethereum team has approved it; postponed dictates that the idea will not be adopted in this edition of Devcon; and finally, rejected entails that the idea will simply not be implemented.

Ethereum announced that next year’s event will be hosted in Colombia. For the time being, the conference still does not have a confirmed date. Devcon 2021 will be the sixth edition launched by Ethereum Foundation, the first being in 2014 in Berlin, Germany.

Progress on ETH 2.0 Testnet

Next year’s Devcon event will be fairly interesting, as the Ethereum Foundation has recently been developing its final testnet Medalla. This multi-client net is to be the last one released before Ethereum 2.0 rolls into play. Ethereum is aspiring to transition fully to a Proof-of-Stake consensus from a Proof-of-Work protocol, and currently boasts of high scalability for a blockchain, in comparison to Bitcoin.

At the beginning of this week, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin also discussed his blockchain project on Peter McCormack’s podcast episode, saying that he predicts Ethereum 2.0 mainnet to only be ready for public use in another 24 months.

The Ethereum co-founder is very proud of his team and is anticipating phase one of Medalla testnet, where sharding will be experimented to test out high scalability, a feature that is to be expected of the new chain. Speaking about Medalla’s progress and the current phase 0 implementation, Buterin said:

“It does not yet include sharding, that starts in phase one but for sharding, the spec is very close to finished so it’s just a matter of waiting for implementers to feel like they’ve done enough on the phase zero side and move onto phase one.”

Transition to PoS will Improve Ethereum Efficiency 2000 Times: Ethereum Foundation

Thanks to the proof of stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, a greener future is on the horizon for Ethereum, which will make the efficiency of the network two thousand times more.

A report by the Ethereum Foundation noted:

“With proof-of-stake being aorund 2000 times more efficient than proof-of-work, the energy expenditure of Ethereum will be roughly equal to the cost of running a home computer for each node on the network.”

The Ethereum Foundation also acknowledged that the PoS framework would trigger a 99.95% reduction in total energy use.

The Ethereum network uses a proof-of-work (PoW) system where miners solve a computational puzzle to validate a block.

Nevertheless, for the PoS consensus mechanism, validation of blocks is dependent on the amount of ETH staked because it is used as collateral against dishonest behaviour. Furthermore, validators will be required to have 51% of the total ETH staked running in the network to maintain a fraudulent blockchain.

The Ethereum Foundation stated that a transition to the proof of stake from the present proof of work is expected to happen in the second quarter of 2022. However, the Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract launched in December 2020 shows the viability of the PoS consensus mechanism.

Meanwhile, the proof of stake framework has gained steam in 2021 based on some of the advantages it presents, like cost-effectiveness and environmentally friendliness.

As a result, PoS networks like Solana, Polkadot, and Cardano are opening opportunities for staking-as-a-service (STaaS) providers.

With staking involving locking up crypto assets for a certain period of time to earn interest or rewards, this market is experiencing significant growth. For instance, Solana recently emerged as the most staked crypto with a value of $78.49 billion.

Ethereum Foundation Releases Grants worth $750,000 to Fund ETH Research

With knowledge being a flywheel for Ethereum (ETH), the Ethereum Foundation has deemed it fit to explore the network’s potential through academic research by releaseing a new wave of grants worth $750,000.

Per the announcement:

“This grants round aims to support formal research on Ethereum and related domains while bringing more actors into the ecosystem. The more knowledge and research is shared among the global community; the more Ethereum can evolve to make a greater and positive impact.”

This decision was reached because the Ethereum Foundation noted that the academic community should advance the ETH ecosystem.

Therefore, the foundation has asked all those interested in ETH research, such as PhD students, research centres, and academics, to submit project proposals because this approach is seen as a stepping stone towards solving major problems.

Furthermore, the funds will be channelled towards systemic, scientific, and formal research, as well as open-source content aimed at Ethereum.

The Ethereum ecosystem has evolved tremendously, transforming arts and culture and changing the economics and finance context. For instance, it is one of the sought-after blockchains in the booming non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralized finance (DeFi) sectors.

The Ethereum Foundation has been revamping the ecosystem, given that it recently rebranded Ethereum 2.0 to the consensus layer so that a broader audience could comprehend its content because it previously triggered an inaccurate representation.

The advancement of the Ethereum network calls for more measures beyond protocol development, like a critical shift in terminologies used, the foundation added.

The consensus layer continues to gain steam because validators recently hit the 300,000 mark. It is seen as a game-changer that will transition the current proof of work (PoW) framework to a proof of stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, deemed more cost-effective and environmentally friendly.

Ethereum developers chose eight updates for Shanghai

The Ethereum Foundation made the announcement on November 24 that the developers working on the platform had reached a consensus on eight Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIP) to investigate as part of the Shanghai update. This update is the next major upgrade following the Merge and the transition to proof-of-stake consensus.

Beacon Chain staked Ether (ETH) is scheduled to be unlocked as one of the primary features that are anticipated to be included in the Shanghai hard fork. This will make it possible for the assets to be withdrawn along with the upgrade, which means that users who had staked Ethereum prior to the Merge will be able to access those tokens in addition to any other rewards that may be available.

According to a prior roadmap, unlocked ETH was supposed to become available between 6 and 12 months following the Merge.

One of the ideas that was accepted is known as EIP 4844. This proposal focuses on using proto-danksharding technology, and it is anticipated that it would increase network throughput while simultaneously reducing transaction costs, which will be a big gain for scalability.

Other EIPs, such as EIP 3540, EIP 3670, EIP 4200, EIP 4570, and EIP 5450, deal with the modernization of Ethereum Virtual Machines.

One of the most-anticipated updates for the community is the Shanghai testnet version, which was given the name Shandong and went live on October 18. This version enables developers to work on implementations such as the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) object format. This update is one of the most-anticipated updates because it separates coding from data, which may be beneficial for on-chain validators.

Ethereum Foundation's 1.7K ETH Sale Signals Potential Price Downturn

Ethereum Foundation’s Sale Raises Red Flags

On October 9, 2023, blockchain analytics platform Scopescan reported that the Ethereum Foundation sold 1,700 ETH, equivalent to approximately $2.76 million, for USDC. The transaction was confirmed by the Ethereum Foundation’s address 0x9ee457023bb3de16d51a003a247baead7fce313d. This sale has raised concerns about the financial outlook for Ethereum, as it may be interpreted as a lack of confidence in the asset’s future performance.

Community Speculation and Crypto KOL’s Pessimism

The sale has led to heightened speculation within the crypto community. Twitter user BignoseGosu.eth questioned the Ethereum Foundation’s motives, receiving a tongue-in-cheek reply from Scopescan: “Cause they gotta eat?” Adding to the negative sentiment, a Twitter crypto trading Key Opinion Leader (KOL) expressed pessimistic views about Ethereum, further signaling potential price downturns.

Mike Alfred, a crypto KOL, also contributed to the growing skepticism. On the same day as the Ethereum Foundation’s sale, he tweeted that the “world computer and ultrasound money narratives have failed,” accusing insiders like Vitalik Buterin of “looting the protocol.” His tweet garnered 176.9K views as of October 9, 2023, amplifying the negative sentiment surrounding Ethereum.

The Ethereum Foundation’s sale of 1,700 ETH, coupled with pessimistic views from crypto trading KOLs like Mike Alfred, has fueled concerns about Ethereum’s financial outlook. These developments may signal a potential downturn in ETH prices.

Ethereum Foundation Suffered from MEV Bot Attack in Eth Selling

The recent exploit faced by the Ethereum Foundation on the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Uniswap V3 casts a spotlight on the burgeoning issue of Sandwich attacks orchestrated by MEV (Miner Extractable Value) Bots within the blockchain and cryptocurrency domain. According to data unveiled by EigenPhi and shared by WuBlockchain, during a transaction that occurred at 16:18 UTC+8, the Ethereum Foundation endeavored to sell 1,700 ETH on Uniswap V3. However, this transaction was exploited by an MEV Bot, resulting in a loss of $9,101 for the Ethereum Foundation, while the MEV Bot was able to secure a profit of $4,060 after deducting the cost. The malevolent MEV Bot, denoted as (0x00…6B40), tactically capitalized on the transaction, shedding light on the imperative need for fortified security measures to avert such financial predations in the future.

The transaction conducted by the Ethereum Foundation on Uniswap V3 fetched a total of 2.738 million USDC. Following the transaction, the Ethereum Foundation’s holdings were detailed as 240.68 ETH, 3.238 million USDC, 49,700 DAI, and 10,000 ARB, collectively valued at $3.687 million. The detailed account of this illicit activity, including the transaction hash, has been meticulously documented and can be referenced on EigenPhi’s website. Further specifics regarding the Ethereum Foundation’s assets post-transaction have been made available on Arkham Intelligence’s platform.

Read more: What is MEV Bot?

The term ‘Sandwich attack’ denotes a particularly malevolent activity within the blockchain community. In a Sandwich attack, a nefarious actor places a buy order, followed by a sell order, surrounding a victim’s transaction. This tactic is employed to momentarily manipulate the price of the asset being traded to the perpetrator’s advantage, facilitating a scenario where the attacker can buy low and sell high within a very short timeframe, thereby securing a profit at the victim’s expense. The term “Sandwich” is derived from the attacker’s orders enveloping or “sandwiching” the victim’s transaction, hence its nomenclature.

The exploit underscores a growing concern within the blockchain and cryptocurrency realm. The MEV Bot-driven Sandwich attack on the Ethereum Foundation’s transaction highlights the continual threat that MEV exploits pose to decentralized exchanges and the broader DeFi ecosystem. This incident brings to the forefront the urgent need for enhanced security protocols to mitigate the risks associated with MEV exploits and to foster a more secure transaction environment for all participants. The rising menace of MEV exploits and the resultant financial losses beckon a call for action towards the implementation of more robust security measures to safeguard against such malicious financial activities in the blockchain space.